Tainted Purity
by Kingslayer Sul
Summary: They are twins.  Leon has magic, but Andon does not.  Violently orphaned, they are taken to the Tower of Magi.  This is their story as Andon becomes a Grey Warden and Leon becomes an Apostate.  Alternate Universe, following the game's story, with changes.


Author's Notes: I do not own the Dragon Age universe; it is copyrighted to BioWare and EA Games. This is based off of the Dragon Age: Origins game, and Awakening expansion. There will be additional scenes, and changes to some of the events and organisation of them. This is more of an exploration of writing and characters, an exercise so that hopefully I can write better in the future.

**This part of the prologue is somewhat gory, and dark.**

**EDIT: Toning down on the goriness. I fear this being too gory and such...  
**

With their life as it was, they could never have asked for anything better. The family was a well-known one in their small town, and they were not allowed to struggle, as the townsfolk themselves would pitch in to help the woman—Reese—with her two boys. She had recently been seeing a man; he was a blacksmith named Offa, and one of the people who had ensured their existence was a good one. But it wasn't that she couldn't do anything for the people; on the contrary. She was a skilled herbalist, and often, she'd go to people's houses to administer the herbs. The townsfolk showed their appreciation by doing favours for her, like giving her food or even building an extra story to her house. They loved her, and what she did for the people.

The twin boys couldn't have been healthier. Andon and Leon were never separated, and it was as if they were one and the same. Their skin was a little lighter than the milk chocolate Offa's mother often brought after a trip to Denerim. Their hair was dark brown and straight, and their eyes were an alluring green. No-one knew who their father was—and Reese always avoided the subject—but there were plenty of tales surrounding the subject, not all of them pleasant.

_Every_ day, she and her boys would go into town. There, she would sell her herbs. And oftentimes, she would buy wares as well. Sometimes, as an extra treat for the boys, they would remain in town for the night, and listen to the bards playing in the local tavern. But now, it had been a week before they'd come into town. Their house, in the middle of open fields some ways off the town, was secluded. Otherwise, had something happened, someone would have known earlier. People had begun to wonder now, however. And a neighbour's report brought...disturbing news. He thought he'd heard sounds, strange sounds from the house. The Chantry took interest in this, and that was why they'd sent Templars.

There was nothing ordinary about the feeling he felt when he and his band of Templars approached the house's gate. A lingering feeling of wrongness, a sense of dread. Something terrible was residing in Reese's house, and odds were, it still was there.

He led them down the walkway, her herb gardens on either side. They seemed untended, the plants wilting from lack of water. Reese never left her gardens in such a state. The Templar tried the front door. It was unlocked. One of his men stepped inside with the torch, the sight which came to his eyes shocked even him. Everything was in disarray. There was blood on the walls, and a table had been cleaved in two. In the middle of the table was a body, kitchen knives pinning it to the wood.

Ser Gordon, ever aware for signs of a trap, took the other Templar's torch and moved closer to the body. It lay face-down, a matted mess of hair and blood. He gave the torch back to his fellow, and cautiously pulled the head up, stomach lurching as he heard a sickening snap as the head came off. He flipped it around and stared into the man's face, held motionless in a scream. "It's Offa," he said grimly, setting the head down where it had been. He resisted the urge to vomit. In his days of serving as a Templar and eventually leader of the Templars stationed here, he hadn't seen something quite so morbid. He shuddered to think about what had happened to Reese and her children, and he hoped they did not share the same fate as poor Offa.

"Do you hear that, ser?" one of his men ask, voice muffled by his helm. Ser Gordon removed his own, revealing a blue-eyed man with graying light-brown hair.

A child's wimpering could be heard from the other room. "Yes," he said. "Bryant, with me. Dorian, Ansel, you search the rest of the house. Quickly, now!" He rushed into the other room, and found a dresser, a chair pushed against it. From there, the crying could be heard. The Templar pushed the chair out of the way, pulling the doors opened, dreading what he might find.

And there was one of the boys, curled up in a ball and shivering. He shrunk away from Gordon, fear in his green eyes. The dresser smelled inside; the boy had been in here for a long time. Gordon offered a hand to the boy. "It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I am Ser Gordon, of the Chantry. You're safe now. What is your name? Where are your brother and mother?"

The boy hesitated, and then grabbed his gauntleted hand. Ser Gordon helped him to his feet, then gently lifted him up into his arms. If memory served, the boys were eight years old at this time. "Up-upstairs," he said. "Andon."

Ser Gordon set the boy down on the wooden floor. He'd begun to cry again, tears drenching his face. He shivered in the cold, and Gordon wished he had a cloak or something he could put on him. The armoire was empty. "What happened, child?" he asked Andon.

"**He** returned," the boy replied. There was hatred in his voice as he mentioned whoever "he" was. Was he the source of the problems? It was most likely, and Ser Gordon was eager to hear more.

"He? Who is he?" he asked.

"I don't know," he said. He was about to say more, when a creature burst into the room.

With skin pulled tight over bulging flesh, and a gaping mouth hanging wide open, Gordon knew what it was. He drew his sword, and Bryant did the same. The men struck and struck at the creature till it fell. Ser Gordon immediately turned to Andon, hugging the boy tightly and turning his back to the downed creature. Within a few moments, it exploded. Thanks to the enchantments on his armour, Ser Gordon was unscathed, as was the boy he'd protected.

"Are you alright, child? Bryant, how do you fare?"

"I am fine, ser," he said, turning to face the charred mess that had been the monster.

"I-I'm okay...what was that...?" Andon stuttered, shaking.

"That was an Abomination," the Templar commander replied. "When users of magic are possessed by demons, that's what they become." No time to explain it fully right now. "Now, I want you to go with Bryant. I'm going to look for your mother, and your brother." He turned his gaze to the junior Templar. "Take him to the Chantry. Get him some clean clothes, a bath, and some food."

"Yes, ser." Gently, he took Andon's hand. "Come." He led Andon out of the room, as Ser Gordon stared back at the smoldering remains. He wrinkled his nose at the smell of burning flesh. He had encountered an Abomination before, during a Harrowing. And a few other times in his career, but they never failed to send a chill down his spine. That was one of the reasons mages needed to remain in their Tower. Any mage outside of it risked becoming one of those.

He whispered a prayer before starting up the stairs. His heavy boots clanked against the wood. Getting to the top, he found the door hanging on its hinges. He continued down a hall, and to the bedroom. The door squeaked as he opened it, and he found a boy, standing in the middle of a pile of gore. This must have been Leon. Even revealed by the moonlight spilling from the window, Ser Gordon could not decipher the look in his features. He was covered head-to-toe in blood, and the floor was drenched in it. The room was a horrible mess of gore and broken furniture. The red hair that lay in patches here and there was unmistakeably Reese's.

The boy turned and looked at Ser Gordon. "Where is my brother?" he demanded. "I want my brother..." His eyes slid closed, and he collapsed before Ser Gordon could answer. The Templar picked the boy up in his arms, unable to understand what exactly had transpired in this place. But the important thing was to get the boys to safety. The woman couldn't have been saved, and the Abomination must have been the blood mage responsible.

Leon in his arms, Ser Gordon turned around and descended the stairs, ready to put all of this blood and gore behind him. Arriving in the kitchen, he told his remaining Templars. "Burn this place down. We mustn't scare the populace with what happened here."

"Yes, ser," one of them replied, and as Ser Gordon carried the boy to his horse and began to ride off, the flames lit the night, destroying the house and the horrors contained within...


End file.
